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On October 12, Australia pulled off the highest ever run chase in women’s ODIs. On the back of captain Alyssa Healy’s 142-run knock, Australia chased down the target of 331 with an over to spare. As India lacked an extra bowling option and reigning World Champions capitalised on it, the hosts’ batting collapse in the slog overs did not sit well with head coach Amol Muzumdar. In the post-match press conference, he said that in the last two games, they have not been able to finish well.
"According to me, the finish is very important in a cricket game. I always say — even in the dressing room — yes, we need a good start, but we need a better finish"
"If you see the finish we had in the South Africa game — as far as bowling is concerned — in the last five overs, we ended up losing that game. And even today, if we’d gotten another 20 runs, maybe things would’ve been different. But at the same time, it's been gradual progress for us, and there are a lot of learnings. I keep talking about positives and learnings — one of the things to learn is to finish well," said Muzumdar after India’s three-wicket loss in Visakhapatnam.
Muzumdar talked about flexibility in the batting order. While he feels that there is no need to make too many changes, he said that lower order is flexible according to the team's need.
"I think we’ve got a very settled batting lineup — I would not like to shuffle around too much. But when the need arises, we are flexible about it. In fact, you answered your own question — the first part was that we’ve been flexible enough in the lower order," said Muzumdar.
"We do have that luxury of sending Richa in, and at times, we’ve got the services of Deepti Sharma — who can go out there and give us the option of a left-hander, and a player who grinds and gets those singles easily. So yes, we do have those options in the lower order, but I wouldn't want to tinker too much with the top-order batting lineup," he added.
Richa justifies promotion, lower order collapses
Richa Ghosh was promoted to no.6 and she contributed with a 22-ball 32. Amanjot Kaur scored 16 runs from 12 balls. Batting at no.8, Deepti Sharma could not get going and lost her wicket for just one run. At one point, 350 seemed well within reach but India were bowled out for 330 with seven balls left in the innings.
Where do India stand on points table?
Following two consecutive losses, India are placed third on the points table as they have a better net run rate (NRR) than South Africa who have won two out of three games. India's next match is England who have registered three consecutive wins. The clash will take place on October 19 at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore.
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